Real Estate Investor March 2021 March 2021 | Page 9

It all started at age 10 when Musk developed an interest in computing , an interest that was influenced by his father who was an African electromechanical engineer , a pilot , and a sailor . At the age of 12 , Musk was already a self-taught computer programmer . He created his first video game , codes of which he sold to PC and Office technology magazine for $ 500 . This was all before he attained his University qualifications , signalling that his prosperity lies not in formal education , but in the ability to invent the unimaginable .

Describing himself , Musk says “ I think I have an extremely high innate drive , which has always been evident in my life growing up . As a kid , I always did risky things that when I ask myself now as a grown man why , I cannot even answer ,” he says .
Musk ’ s drive to always test situations by “ attempting ” has always been prompted by his ability to think critically and analyse possible outcomes while paying less attention to the fear and anxiety of the unknown . He says the ability to think critically is , amongst others , “ the reason I am where I am today ,” and that critical thinking makes it easy to put things into perspective .
“ People don ’ t think critically enough and critical thinking is a skill in short supply . People assume too many things to be true without a sufficient basis in that belief . It is important that people closely analyse what is supposed to be true and seek understanding from a first principle point of view and not by analogy and convention .”
ELON MUSK
A first principle can be defined as a foundational truth that cannot be deduced any further . In short , make no assumptions and don ’ t just accept things to be true .
“ Most people assume that things are true by convention , and if you do that then you are making it difficult for yourself to gain insight into how things can be bettered .”
Skills VS Education Musk , whose net worth ( as at 24-02- 2021 ) is $ 183 billion , does not believe that graduating from a tertiary institution guarantees success .
“ It might just serve as an indication that graduates might be careful of some things in life , and not that they will definitely be successful . If you look at the likes of Bill Gates , Larry Ellison and Steve Jobs , these guys did not graduate , but given the opportunity to hire them , you would in a blink of an eye .”
All that Musk says is that sometimes the wealthiest people are not the most educated in the room . Well , what we can learn from people like him , without belittling academia , is that the skill sometimes pays the bills and helps greatly in the creation of generational wealth .
Real Estate Investments In addition to the billions that he has made in the tech industry , creating space cars and diversify the world through Artificial Intelligence , Musk is constantly improving his real estate investment portfolio .
Since 2012 , Elon Musk bought more than five mansions in the United States of America , all to the value of more than
SA Real Estate Investor Magazine MARCH 2021 7